Winners At War Episode 7: Yul Be Sorry

The Queen abdicates her throne

Parvati and Sandra arrive at Edge of Extinction as Sandra recaps how she was voted out. But she quickly decides she's not staying, and gives everyone a hug before pulling up the flag, telling them to get Denise for her. I support her decision, she's not gonna win the challenge so what did Extinction really offer her? And that's probably gonna be the last time we ever see the Queen in this game. Whoever the next two-time winner is, Sandra will have no say in it.

Yul is concerned about how Wendell was behaving at tribal and decides to talk to him about it. Wendell apologizes to Michele, but then starts acting condescending towards her. Michele is now annoyed at Wendell, especially as she gave him a fire token to try and repair their relationship.

The chase is on

Ethan talks with Parvati, saying he doesn't think this is good for his body, and gets some encouragement. Then there's a note telling them some fire tokens are hidden on the trails. They all take off, Rob in the lead, but he tires himself out and Tyson overtakes him. Tyson nabs one, but nobody seems to know where the other three are. Flashbacks reveal that Rob got all three of them.

Dakal are making fun of Tony for the way that he runs. Tony is talking up Denise as a threat after her big move, but Jeremy still knows the real threat is Tony. Meanwhile Kim is starting to gravitate more towards Jeremy and Denise, busting out her favorite word....options.

Smirking Sophie watches the others fight

Yara finish up their leftovers as Adam and Ben are bickering over where the idol is. Adam is sure that Sarah or Ben have it and is convinced their search attempts are fake. Adam tells his suspicions to Sophie (the real idol holder) and she rats him out, which leads to him having to apologize to the people who he's pretty sure are lying to him.

Deja vu

The immunity challenge is to fill up a saucer full of water, which offers redemption for Nick, whose Jabeni tribe gave one of the worst performances ever in it. Right away, Michele falls over...not a great start. Sele lose some water, Dakal spill also. Yara are more careful but are going very slow. Despite almost being lapped, the strategy works and they had enough to drop their bag with only one trip. Dakal and Sele also move onto the puzzle. Sophie and Ben knock it out quickly to get them another win. It's now Jeremy and Densie vs Michele and Wendell, and it's a very close one, with Wendell trying to get Jeff's attention. Dakal win it by about a second and Nick is devastated.

The man with the plan(s)

Yul and Nick are both annoyed by Wendell's showboating, thinking he lost it for him and agree to vote him out. Wendell knows Yul is coming for him and tells Michele to vote Yul out. Yul proposes a plan to try and get ahold of Wendell's fire tokens, which makes Michele realize Yul is gonna be a threat going forward.

At tribal council, Yul says he's told more lies this season already than he did in his first one. Wendell hints that he doesn't want to play with Michele and then is again condescending correcting her when she takes offence to that. Nick says if he is voted out he would still work with them if he came back. Wendell disagrees, and Yul sits somewhere in the middle.

"YUL be on the Edge of Extinction tonight" says Wendell as he casts his vote. It ends up being 3-1 for Yul to go and now the purge of pre-HvV players is complete. He splits his tokens between Sarah and Sophie. Not gonna lie, I'm a little salty new school have been so dominant...but they still have some players worth watching, so we'll see how the game goes from here.

STAR OF THE WEEK: MICHELE FITZGERALD

I really don't know how she wasn't the target tonight, but her social game obviously saved her. Now she can probably slip back into the shadows after the merge and has a shot at going far.

Winners At War Episode 6: Let's Make A Deal

Yara are celebrating no longer being under Rob rule and throwing a party. But Adam is nervous about his position since Ben is close to the girls now and barely talking to him.

From coconut bandit to peanut butter bandit

Edge of Extinction gets news that a new fire token is up for grabs, hidden somewhere on the Island. Tyson figures out it means the tide and spots it, but Rob is looking at him...so he pretends to be taking a leak. Tyson gets it and it's an idol nullifier, which he chooses to sell to Parvati. Tyson then uses that token to buy peanut butter - surprised he didn't save it for a challenge advantage, but he's hoping an extra calorie boost every day will help him just as much.

Stabby stabby

Time for the challenge, where Wendell almost throws and breaks the skull of the immunity idol to Jeff, which he can't believe. They have to bring bags of rice back from the water, search them for balls and then use them in a table maze. Oh and only the first place tribe is safe. Sele take the lead getting their bags across, Yul and Wendell working the bags through the fence at opposite ends. However, Ben catches up after doing a good job knifing the bags, and now Yara and Sele are basically level. Nick is first to land a ball, then Sophie. Adam gets the 2nd for Yara and Wendell gets it for Sele, as Kim continues to struggle. It's a race between Sophie and Nick for the last ball, which Sophie ends up winning. And nobody is more relieved than Adam.

BFFs forever

Nick, Wendell and Yul agree that Parvati is their best move. Michele sees the writing on the wall and tells Wendell she wants to vote for him so he can get her tokens, but he's not happy about that. Parvati has a cagey conversation with Wendell where he offers to vote elsewhere if she gives him some tokens. They don't reach an agreement, so she sells him out to Nick instead...and now Nick is annoyed at Wendell.

Up to his old tricks

On Dakal, Tony decides to go hide in his spybunker for some intel. Sandra is honest to Jeremy and Denise that it's one of them, so they start pleading their case for the other to go. Tony being gone is sketching people out and they clock that he might have a bunker. When he does re-emerge, he pushes for Denise to go as the smallest threat. Sandra has other ideas and tells Denise she'll give her an idol for 2 fire tokens. Denise says one now and another when it's proven to be real. Big move here, but will it backfire?

At Sele's tribal council, Wendell says this is the season of past relationships, but he's able to compartmentalize them. Nick says that's the new school approach. Parvati says she wants to work with someone who'll talk to her and Wendell doesn't. Wendell says he's just being honest and admits to his offer which is still on the table. Not really a very reassuring thing to say in front of your allies, and Yul is noticeably uncomfortable. Despite all this, Parvati is voted out and passes her tokens on to Michele.

Jeremy just trying to stay above water

Time for Dakal's tribal now, where Sandra divides up the game into bigger threats and smaller threats, with Denise on the smaller end. Jeremy says he likes that division better than Dakal vs Sele. Denise and Jeremy both say they're nervous, Jeremy comparing himself to a distressed duck.

Sandra votes Denise, despite knowing she's not going. Denise then gets up and plays the idol...but then she also plays an idol for Jeremy. Denise gets 4 votes (which means Jeremy must've voted for her too), and her one vote sends home...Sandra. She seems in shock, having basically voted herself out, and gives her token to Yul. Cold-ass move by Denise, but Sandra got too cute and can only blame herself.

Two of the game's biggest legends out within hours of eachother and I'm taking this a lot harder than I thought I would. We all knew it would be this way, but the fact it was so preventable is tough to swallow.

STAR OF THE WEEK: DENISE STAPLEY

Whether it was smart or not, that was a huge move by Denise...one I didn't think she had in her. And I'm sure it's earned her some respect on her name.

Winners At War Episode 5: Ex On The Beach

Breaking character, for a great cause

Nick is happy Tyson is gone, but is glad to have got a fire token from him. Now he's saying he would love to work with him. Yul talks about his friendship with Jonathan Penner and how his wife has ALS, and that he's playing to help them. The gamebot even breaks down crying, which is rare for him.

The players return to the sand spit where they first got divided up into tribes and drop their buffs to do it again. The new blue tribe is Parvati, Nick, Yul, Michele and Wendell. The new red tribe is Jeremy, Denise, Tony, Sandra and Kim. The green tribe is Rob, Ben, Adam, Sarah and Sophie. The early headlines are former lovers Michele and Wendell sharing a beach together and the most dysfunctional majority ever in the former Sele boys.

Jeremy admires the Dakal camp (which is largely Wendell's handiwork), but needs to find somebody to swing to his side. Talking with Kim, he senses she was on the outs and might be his best bet. Tony knows it's important to keep her with him so hammers home that the threats need to stick together.

Queen of options

Sending "u up?" texts on the cringe tribe

On Sele, Parvati is with her former Cook Islands castmate Yul, which is sure to be an interesting one given they were on opposing sides. She takes hearing Yul's wife is a fan of her as a good thing though. She also learns of Nick's crush, but Wendell gives her nothing. Wendell and Michele's talk is very awkward, with Michele saying it didn't end well and Wendell not wanting to talk about it at all. Michele and Parvati talk together, wondering what they can do.

The first thing Sarah does upon meeting Rob is blame the Amber vote-out on Tyson. The guys then rehash the awkward history of the Ethan vote, and it's clear that none of them want to work together. Sophie even wonders if there are too many cracks. Everybody decides to look for the new idol and Sophie is the one who finds it. Wow, and on a tribe with three previous idol finders too. She hands her other half off to Sarah.

Sandra the challenge beast

Wendell sees the challenge and tells Nick to get his throwing arm ready. It involves climbing over nets, knocking blocks down and stacking the color cubes with no repeating colors. Yara do the nest first, with Dakal dragging. Soon Rob, Ben, Kim, Wendell and Nick are all trading shots. Yara get them down first allowing Adam and Sophie first crack at the puzzle. Sele are next, and it's up to Parvati and Wendell. Dakal are way behind but get there in the end. Sele get 1st place and then Sandra and Jeremy get 2nd for Dakal. Yara are going to tribal and Rob gets the classic kiss-of-death confessional. Yikes...if it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.

Stay sharp

Rob, Adam and Ben agree on Sarah as the target and Rob proposes just staying at camp. Adam finds it annoying, and so does Sarah, who is the first to bounce. Sarah contemplates using her vote stealer but would rather keep it if she can. Sophie says it's worrying to be relying on a few brief winks from Ben and Adam.

At tribal council, Adam talks about how every player on this season is really good so waiting for others to make rookie mistakes is not gonna happen. Sarah says the other three spoke about 7 words to her. Sophie rejects Jeff's usage of the word "crack" when he asks if she's found one, saying they're not invaders, they just want to form solid alliances of their own. Rob says that his buddy system has proved to be effective in the past.

Sarah chooses not to play her advantage. Wow, big move...she could've made it airtight. Sophie doesn't play her idol either. A 4-1 vote for Rob sends the legend off to Extinction. He gives his tokens to Parvati, which means she has 4 now. He was getting a lot of praise for surviving this long against the odds, but in the end this ends up being his worst performance yet (barring an EoE return, that is). The old schoolers are dropping like flies - will this continue?

STAR OF THE WEEK: SARAH LACINA

This could've gone to Sarah or Sophie really, but I think it's time to admit Sarah is actually a really good player. Swung the numbers back to her side, and keeps the advantage that gives her full control of the tribe.

Winners At War Episode 4: Long Walk To Freedom

Scolded like a schoolboy

Back from tribal, Adam describes himself as being "castrated" and is feeling very humbled. Ben is wary of Adam but doesn't want to give Rob and Parvati too much rope. Over on Dakal, they're all having a good time due to their winning streak. They can actually make out some figures on Edge of Extinction in the distance, which is kinda freaky.

Ethan pushed to the limit

The EoE players have a chance to earn a fire token...they have to make 20 trips up and down the mountain with logs. Even the first one leaves them panting, but Natalie is keeping a good pace. Ethan really starts struggling and needs a visit from the medic. After a rest, he soldiers on. Natalie is first to complete it, Amber follows and they both start crying. Danni gets it and the girls all accompany Ethan on his last trip. Great effort from all of them and some nice comradarie.

Adam is working his ass off at camp, which the tribe has noticed. He's also being careful not to give Rob any ammo to throw him under the bus, but he decides to just make some up. It works, and now Adam is Jeremy's main target.

Good little worker bee

Sarah is really bonding with Tyson. But the game is still being played, and Tyson makes a pitch to Sandra and Tony to get rid of the lower-threat players aka Yul's alliance. However Sandra isn't entertaining it, knowing that Tyson was targeting her earlier.

Victory out of reach

The immunity challenge is to pull a boat to a tower to retrieve keys, then solve a puzzle. Parvati suggests naming the bench after Sandra when she sits out again, and she rolls with it. When they get to the keys, Sophie and Denise jump first and miss. Nick and Kim both get keys. Adam gets it but falls awkwardly. Nick gets the third for Dakal and Adam gets his 2nd, but Parvati and Adam both miss multiple times...damn, it wasn't this difficult last time, was it? Nick takes the puzzle duties, having done it before on his season. Adam finally gets the third key and now Sele have a shot. Thanks to Rob and Michele on the puzzle, Sele get back into this, and are able to take the lead. Dakal have to take theirs apart...somehow Sele win immunity.

TnT: Could be an explosive duo

Tyson wants to target Nick, since he blew the puzzle. He thinks he's secured an easy vote, but Tony is worried. Wendell and Sophie confirm with Tony the real plan is Tyson, due to his connections on the other tribe. Tony wants to keep Tyson, and has support from Sarah and Kim. Sandra finds herself as the swing vote, and despite her issues with Tyson, she does see the logic in keeping him.

At tribal council, Yul talks about not drawing the lines and showing who is with who. Nick says he's sticking with his team after the swap. The players talk about being starstruck by their castmates, with Yul saying he expected Tony to be an asshole. Sarah says she already has a Sandra head on her mantle from Game Changers. Nick says Parvati was his former crush, and that it actually shakes his confidence a little bit being around great players.

Casting votes, Nick votes for Kim in case of an idol. But it's only 1 for Kim, 1 for Nick and the rest for Tyson. "Too easy, I should've seen it coming" he says, and heads off. He doesn't want to give his token to anybody, but decides on Nick for the laughs since he's his "hero". When he gets to Extinction, Tyson comments on how much firewood they have. Oh buddy, if only you knew!

STAR OF THE WEEK: ADAM KLEIN

After one of his worst episodes ever, Adam pivoted successfully and did damage control. Hmm, seems familiar. He even got to be a challenge hero for Sele.